Body Image Concern and Eating Disorder Symptoms Among Elite Icelandic Athletes

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyse body image concerns and symptoms of eating disorders in elite Icelandic athletes according to their sex, and sport practiced. The participants were 755 athletes (24.8 ± 3.5 years in age) who compete at the highest possible level in Iceland. Representing 20 different sports, they were divided into five sports groups. Three questionnaires were used: the Body Shape Questionnaire to assess body image concerns; the Bulimia Test-Revised to assess the main symptoms of bulimia; and the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire to identify disordered eating attitudes and behaviours. A chi-squared test was used to analyse differences in prevalence of body image concern and eating disorders, a t-test for the differences between men and women, and a one-way ANOVA to compare the different sports. The main findings were that 17.9% of the athletes presented severe or moderate body image dissatisfaction, and 18.2% (25.3% of the women) were above the clinical cutoff for body image concern. Women’s scores were higher than men’s (whole sample and ball games) in all variables except restraint. These results seem to point to the existence of a real problem that athlete, coaches, doctors, and institutions need to take into account.

Disordered Eating Attitudes, Anxiety, Self-Esteem and Perfectionism in Young Athletes and Non-Athletes

“…Clinical-level EDs affect women at higher rates than men [ 14 , 15 ]. Eating disorders are particularly common in female adolescents and young adults (90% of cases occur in people under the age of 25) and seem to be more prevalent among athletes than in the general population [ 16 , 17 ].…”

Prevalence of body image concern among schoolgirls aged 12–17 years in Iran

“…BIC is one's wrong perception, feelings and thoughts of appearance and body which leads to significant distress and/or impairment,[ 29 ] depression and anxiety,[ 14 ] lower quality of life,[ 15 ] weight concerns,[ 16 ] and eating disorders. [ 8 ] So far, various studies have been conducted to determine the prevalence of BIC in adolescents. Its prevalence has been reported differently in various studies.…”

“…[ 2 ] Body image is defined as a person's perception, feelings and thoughts about his/her body, incorporating body size estimation, the evaluation of body attractiveness, and various emotions associated with body shape and size;”[ 3 ] therefore, it can said that body image concern (BIC) is a multi-dimensional construct encompassing how we perceive, think, feel, and act toward our bodies in terms of size, shape, and general appearance. [ 4 ] BIC is associated with several variables such as weight control, self-esteem, body mass index and depressive symptoms,[ 2 3 5 6 7 ] eating disorders,[ 8 ] short- and long-term maintenance of physical activity,[ 9 ] experiential avoidance and metacognition beliefs,[ 4 ] sociocultural factors,[ 6 ] and mental health. [ 10 ] Body image dissatisfaction is considered as the primary motivation for cosmetic surgery.…”

Risk of developing eating disorders through the misperception of the body image and the adoption of bad eating habits in a sample of young volleyball athletes

“…Many studies have found a close link between sports activity and the onset of EDs and agree that EDs are more common in female athletes than in non-athletes [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. Lots of scienti ic papers address this complex issue.…”

“…In order to reduce body weight, they may resort to dysfunctional coping styles such as skipping meals, using rubberized clothing to sweat, vomiting, laxatives or diuretics [21,27,32]. A prolonged low-calorie diet that is not adequately monitored can induce an alteration in the relationship between the subject, the food and the perception of one's body and it is an important risk factor for a possible onset of EDs [22,29].…”